Hauptinhalt
Dolly Katiutia Alima Afoumba
Doktorandin
E-Mail: Afoumba@students.uni-marburg.de
Dissertationsprojekt
Perpetuating Finance Imperialism. The Currency Board and the Franc Zone in West/Central Africa, specifically in Cameroon from the 1940s to the 1960s
In June 2019, two years after multiple claims were made regarding the use of the CFA franc in 15 former French colonies in Africa, Emmanuel Macron held a press conference with the Ivorian president Alasan Ouatara. He addressed the African youth, saying: From then on, West and Central Africa engaged in a transition process from the colonial relic, the CFA franc, to the ECO, which is said to break with colonial ties.
This study is not another analysis of the controversies around the CFA franc. It contributes to the ongoing debate on monetary transition in West and Central Africa by examining the global and national events which caused the implementation of transcolonial economic institutions and guided the process of decolonisation. I analyse the attitudes of France and Great Britain toward Cameroon, both as an isolated territory and as part of wider West and Central African monetary and economic systems. The study situates these policies within the context of the severe economic and monetary constraints faced by both imperial powers at the beginning of the Second World War, during France and much of Europe under German economic occupation and amid growing anti-colonial protests in Cameroon. To interpret the structural continuities, I mobilise the concepts of transcoloniality and transimperialism. Transcoloniality highlights how institutional arrangements—such as reserve centralisation in the French and British Treasury and strict convertibility — as well as economic agreements – contractualization of Cameroon-British trade relations - allowed monetary and economic domination to persist beyond the formal end of empire. Transimperialism, reveals how colonial monetary forms emerged not in isolation but through the interplay of competing European
powers, including Germany.
Three principal assumptions can be made from the dissertation:
Cameroon’s and AEF’s major role in Degaulle’s liberation struggle against Germany provided room
for autonomy and sovereignty discourses in Cameroon.
Although French Cameroon and the AEF felt under British economic control in support of Free
France during the Second World War, De Gaulle's transcolonial reforms disadvantaged British
interests in the country and the French colonial market.
The transimperial nature of Cameroon’s colonization created a dual challenge for Cameroonian
leaders who had to navigate between collaboration, resistance and adaptation in dealing with
external pressures from competing colonial powers while addressing national aspirations for
sovereignty and economic independenceCurriculum Vitae
30.01.2026 PhD Disputatio 1,3 Magna Cum Laude.
seit 01/2021 PhD scholarship holder at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
seit 10/2020 Doktorandin am Lehrstuhl für Neueste Geschichte (19./20. Jahrhundert) von Prof. Benedikt Stuchtey an der Philipps-Universität Marburg, Topic: Perpetuating Finance Imperialism. The Currency Board And The Zone Franc In West/Central Africa, Specifically In Cameroon from The 1940s To The 1960s.
10/2017-03/2020 Master Friedens- u. Konfliktforschung an der Philipps-Universität Marburg
2012-2013 Deutschkurs am Goethe Institut , Yaoundé
2008-2012 Licence et Master I en science politique ; spécialité : relations Internationales et études stratégiques, à l’université de Yaoundé 2 Soa, Cameroun
seit 01/2015 Bildungsreferentin und Projektkoordinatorin im Bereich politische Bildung, koloniale Geschichte, Vielfalt, Migration und Integration, sowie internationale Zusammenarbeit in Schulen, Universitäten und Organisationen, in Berlin für die Initiative Perspektivwechsel e.V. und Engagement Global, in Frankfurt für Maisha e. V.
2010-2014 Dozentin bei „Les Majors de science Politique“ in Yaoundé II , Soa.Vorträge und Workshops
ab 01/2020 "Auf den Spuren des Widerstands gegen Rassismus. Eine interaktive Geschichtswerkstatt" für die Initiative Perspektivwechsel e.V., Hamburg und Berlin.
07/2019 "Post Colonialism and Power Structures. Economic Cooperation and Confrontation Between Europe and The USA and Between Europe and Africa. An Analysis Of International Monetary And Trade Policies." im Rahmen eines ASA-Seminars bei Engagement Global in der DGB-Jugendbildungsstätte Flecken, Neuruppin.
04-05/2019 "Anticolonial movements in contemporary history. An example of the “front Anti-franc cfa” and the South-South solidarity." im Rahmen eines ASA-Seminars bei Engagement Global in der Jugendbildungsstätte Kurt Löwenstein in Werftphul Dorf/ B158, Werneuchen.Publikationen
Afoumba Dolly: “The Biya method. Cameroon between state and social radicalization” Abstracts der Konferenzbeiträge „Radikalisierung und kollektive Gewalt“ AFK. 9.02.2020.
https://friedensnachwuchsafk.home.blog/2020/02/09/the-biya-method-cameroon-between-state-and-social-radicalization/
Rekolonisierung des Sahel. Kapitalistische Akkumulation und westliche Militärinterventionen. In: Wissenschaft & Frieden 2021/1 »Friedensmacht« EU ? – Zwischen Diplomatie und Militarisierung, Seite 31–34. https://wissenschaft-und-frieden.de/seite.php?artikelID=2494.
»Freiwillige« Kolonialisierung? Franc CFA, Frankophonie und Militärabkommen in Westafrika. IN: Kriegerische Verhältnisse. Reflexion zur Ukraine und Neokolonialismus. Wissenschaft und Frieden. 02.2022. S. 38-41.
Afrofeminismus – Auf dem Weg zu dekolonialen Perspektiven im Feminismus. In: Mainstreaming Decolonize! - Koloniale Kontinuitäten in der Entwicklungspolitik. ed. Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag BER e.V.. Dezember 2022.
„Eine neue Währung für die Allianz der Sahel-Staaten? Wie sich Mali, Burkina Faso und Niger von französischer Bevormundung befreien wollen. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung. 06.08.2024.
Die Rolle von Währungen im fairen Handel. Für ASID (Association for Sustainable and Inclusive Development). Decolonize Berlin. URL: https://www.asid-ngo.org/fairtrade?pgid=m13kcamu-679f1468-7fba-4859-a43a-1ed26ff78557.
Dolly Katiutia Alima Afoumba / Tim Salzer, Tagungsbericht: Security and Risk – Challenges for Economy and Business in the Global 20th Century, in: H-Soz-Kult, 25.01.2025, https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/fdkn-152571.
Navigating Transition: The contractualisation of British economic relations to Cameroon amid independence. In. Security and Risk. The Case of Foreign Trade Securitisation. Huber, Marie; Kleinöder, Nina & Kleinschmidt, Christian (eds.). Pp. 168 -195, 2026.